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THE ALABAMA HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
IVIONXQOIVIKRY 

Reprint No. 13 



A Sketch of 
Judge Anderson Crenshaw 



BY 



REV. CHARLES EDWARD CRENSHAW 



[From the TRANSACTIONS 1899-1903, Vol. IV] 



MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA 
1904 







/i-3/f/f 



VI. A SKETCH OF JUDGE ANDERSON CRENSHAW. 
4 By Rkv. Charles Edward Crenshaw/ Verbena. 

V 

On account of partisan predilections it is hard for the average 

historian to give an impartial account of political matters or to 

^j withhold his prejudice against those who differ with him politi- 

^ cally, which is sometimes done by ignoring their names when 

<; / they should be honorably mentioned in history. 

This is seen in Pickett's History of Alabama. He was such a 
strong Andrew Jackson Democrat that he appears to have ig- 
nored the names of Henry Clay Whigs. Nicholas Davis, of Lime- 
stone, is the only one in that party that he mentioned with much 
favor. He could not ignore his name without leaving an ugly 
gap in the first decade of Alabama history, for Davis served in 
the Alabama legislature as president of the senate during this 
entire decade, being elected to that office ten times. Pickett's 
partisan partiality is seen in his notice of Alabama's first judges, 
among whom were Saffold and Crenshaw, the former a Democrat 
and the latter a Whig. He gives a full account of Saffold's life 
without even mentioning the name of Anderson Crenshaw. 

As an account of the life of the latter as well as of his contem- 
poraries should be found in the histories of Alabama, I will now 
give a short sketch of him. He was a native of Newberry dis- 
trict, South Carolina, and was born 1786. 

His parents were Charles- (born in Va.) and Eunice (White) 
Crenshaw, and his grandparents were William (of Va.) and Su- 
sanna (Parr) Crenshaw, and John and Elizabeth (Lee) White. 
The children of Charles Crenshaw were: (i) Arch Crenshaw, 



' Charles Edward Crenshaw, son of Judge Anderson Crenshaw, was 
bom Aug. 8, 1821, at Cahaba, Ala. He received a good primary educa- 
tion, and graduated at the University of Alabama in the class of 1843, with 
the degree of bachelor of arts. Embracing the faith of the Methodist 
Protestant Church, he entered the ministry of that denomination, and for 
many years labored faithfully. He is now located, and although at an ad- 
vanced age, gives much attention to his business interests. He was mar- 
ried (i) April 8, 1847, at Hickory Grove, Montgomery county, Ala., to 
Mary Louisa Coleman, by whom he has several children, and (2) in Aug., 
1877, to Lydia Grout Shaw. 

' Chapman's edition of O'Neall's Annals of Newberry (1892), p. 53-54- 

(301) 



302 Alabama Historical Society. 

who married ; (2) Dr. Abncr, who married Charlotta, 

daughter of Gen. John A. Elmore, a Revolutionary soldier (Boil- 
ing Hall, Jr., of Coosada, married a daughter of Abner Cren- 
shaw) ; (3) Anderson, my father, of whom I will speak at 
length; (4) Walter, who died unmarried; (5) Willis, who mar- 
ried Amanda, daughter of Walter Chiles; and (6) Phoebe, an 
only daughter who died young unmarried. 

Charles Crenshaw was one of the early settlers of Newberry 
district and served as tax collector from a very early day until 
1812. He was one of the founders and patrons of Mount Bethel 
academy, where his son Anderson Crenshaw received his pre- 
paratory education for the South Carolina College at Columbia, 
where he graduated in 1806. He was the first graduate of that 
institution, being the only member of the class of 1806. 

He studied law with Judge Abraham Xott, of Columbia and 
was admitted to the bar in 1809. He settled at Newberry for the 
practice. James Helton O'Neall in his Annals of Newberry says: 
"He came to the bar with a most accurate knowledge of his pro- 
fession. To him, more than any one else, may be ascribed the 
character of the Newberry bar for legal knowledge and industry. 
He presented the example which has had good effect for forty 
years." - r^ 

In 1812 he was elected to the legislature of South Carolina. 
In 181 5 he married Mary Chiles, daughter of Thomas Chiles, 
of Abbeville, S. C. His two sons, Walter and Thomas Crenshaw, 
were born in Newberry. 

In 1819 he removed to Alabama and settled at Cahaba, the capi- 
tal of the State, and here about the end of this year a daughter was 
born who died in infancy. In 1821 at the same place his third 
son (the writer) was born on the 8th of August. This was the 
year he was elected judge. After he came to Cahaba he was 
troubled by the high waters of the Alabama river. The town 
was on the bank of that river at the junction of the Cahaba. At 
one time during a great freshet the waters of the rivers came up 
to the doorsteps and my mother had to use a little boat to get to 
the kitchen, smoke house and outhouses. 

In the fall of 1822 he removed to Butler county, one of the 
lower counties of his circuit. He rented a two room log cabin 
from Mansel Womack (the father of Lewis and John W. Wo- 



Sketch of Judge Anderson Crenshaw. — Crenshaw. 303 

mack) in which he lived with his family until he built a more 
comfortable house. In 1824 his fourth son, Frederick W., was 
born. This residence in Butler was two miles from the present 
village of Manningham. 

Judge C. purchased some very rich land on Cedar creek on 
which he started a plantation but derived little income from this 
source, as he could not give it sufficient attention on account of 
his official duties. As his circuit lay in quite a new and rough 
coimtry with very bad roads he was compelled to travel on horse- 
back to all his courts, which impaired his constitution and prob- 
ably shortened his life. When we came to Butler county in 1822 
we settled among very good neighbors, some of whom were 
friends and kinsmen from North and South Carolina, among 
whom were Dr. John Coleman, Wm. H. Wade, and Thomas 
Bragg, of North Carolina; Richard Ringgold, of Maryland; Maj. 
Patton and Mansel Womack, of Georgia. Most of these were 
among the first settlers of Butler county. There was a very com- 
mon school house in the neighborhood at which my brothers 
Walter and Thomas first went to school. About the year 1828 a 
large brick house was erected at which we boys all went to school 
as we got old enough. From this school brothers Walter and 
Thomas went to college at Tuscaloosa in 1831. Thomas remained 
there only one year, but Walter stayed there three years and 
graduated in 1834. About the year 1833, when brother Thomas 
was going to school at the brick house, one day about 5 p. m., a 
very severe storm passed over our house going towards the school 
house, blowing down a great many trees on the way. My father 
got very uneasy about the safety of brother Thomas. As soon as 
the storm was over he started to look for him. He got to the 
school house without meeting him and found that the pupils had 
gone home. As there were two ways to the school house he came 
back the other way and found brother T. at home. He did not 
start to come until the storm was over. 

During the year 1834 Thomas A. Walker, of Benton county, 
read law with my father, and in consideration of his board at our 
house he taught brother Fred, and myself in our primary studies. 
He graduated at the Alabama University in 1833. He became a 
successful lawyer, and was elected judge of the circuit court. 

In the year 1844 Judge Crenshaw was a strong Henry Clay 



304 Alabama Historical Society. 

man but this did not affect his re-election by a Democratic legis- 
lature at its next session as I will notice below. 

My father did not belong to any church, but he was a firm 
Christian, and read the Bible a great deal and endeavored to live 
according to its precepts. He contributed to the support of the 
Methodist Protestant Church at Mt. Zion. Old Mr. Samuel 
Oliver, a minister of that church who lived in Greenville, was a 
great friend to him and became more so after he received a favor 
in a business transaction with him. One fall Mr. Oliver bought 
my father's entire cotton crop in the seed after it was gathered at 
a certain price which he agreed to pay after he sold it. So when he 
sold the cotton he came to our house to settle for it and showed 
the account of sales, which proved that he had lost a considerable 
amount in the trade. My father took from the debt all that Oliver 
had lost. I recall how r.ll the people in the neighborhood were 
expressing their admiration of this kindness to Mr. Oliver, think- 
ing it was obeying the Savior who commanded us to help the poor 
and needy. Judge Crenshaw showed his faith in the Christian re- 
ligion while transacting the duties of his office, especially in pass- 
ing sentence on prisoners condemned to death. He would urge 
on them with all his power the necessity of repentance and a 
preparation to meet their Maker in the great day of judgment. 

He served on the supreme court with the other circuit judges 
until 1832, and then only as circuit judge until 1839, when he 
was elected chancellor of the newly created and organized court 
of chancery, defeating J. B. Clark, of Greene, Robert McAlpine, 
of Mobile, and Edmund S. Dargan, of Montgomery. He was 
elected the second time to this office in 1844. In this election, 
the first time in all his official life, much effort was made to de- 
feat him on account of his political opinions. He had just voted 
for Henry Clay for president. The strong partisan Democrats 
tried to defeat him with Gen. George Crabb who had deserted the 
Whigs in the recent presidential election and voted for James 
K. Polk. He was elected by only twenty votes over Crabb, all the 
Whigs and many of the Democrats voting for him. He lived but 
a few years longer and died in the summer of 1847. Garrett 
says in Public Men of Alabama that "His virtues as a man and 
his abilities and integrity as a judge gained the public confi- 
dence from the beginning of his long administration of justice, 



Sketch of Judge Anderson Crenshaw. — Crenshaw. 305 

which he retained to the last," and after the impeachment and 
trial with his associates Saffold and White before the legislature 
of 1829. He adds, "The judges passed through the ordeal tri- 
umphantly and each received from the legislature new token of 
confidence." 

In physical make-up Judge Crenshaw was rather slender, being 
five feet and eleven inches high, and weighing about 135 pounds. 



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